1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a tray for placing flexible pouches containing food or other items on the tray and retort sterilizing the items in the flexible pouches.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Recent discoveries have made possible the sealing of food products in air and light impermeable flexible containers which can then be retorted to sterilize the food products therein. This method is becoming increasingly accepted as a highly desirable food preservation system. In the past, the food in such pouches have been cooked by clamping the top of the pouches individually and placing them in a large retort device. This prior procedure has proved to be time consuming and inefficient for a large volume operation. The tray of this invention can be used to provide a method of stacking such pouches and placing them in large quantities in a retort device for sterilization of the food therein. In addition, manually sliding pouches into vertical slots in a retort rack has the disadvantage of physical damage during loading and the additional labor and time required.
Still additionally, prior known designs of trays do not provide for controlled cross-sectional area of exposure of the pouches thereby not permitting an accurate design of the sterilization process based on a known and controlled heat penetration rate.
Other prior methods for sterilizing material in flexible pouches include vertically spaced slots in racks which are difficult to load manually and nearly impossible to automatically load. Other methods include flat trays which are difficult to load automatically and which do not allow for positive control of water flow through the conduit between pouch layers. Still other prior methods include individual, separate pockets to support and confine the pouch but these are expensive and difficult to load and unload.